General Memoir
by Sydoe
Summary: It's the story of General Grievous at the start of the war and how he caught the eye of Sidious by his angry acts. Features Kaleesh traditions. RR, no flames please.
1. Prologue

**General Memoir**

Prologue

The forward ranks of the 462nd legion of clone troopers moved closer to the Separatist bunker with their rifles ablaze. One by one, they shot each battle droid and Confederate unit that came their way.

Even the battle, when seen from afar, would be called one of Mygeeto's greatest battles. It was here on this planet that the 462nd was lead by Jedi General Ki-Adi Mundi, whom at the moment was away from the bridge where the current battle took place.

The bunker, which lay at the end of the bridge, was rumored to have valuable information on the secret routes that the Confederates used across the galaxy. If the Republic was ever able to get a hold of this information, Separatist movement across the galaxy would cease to exist.

The rumor, of course, was true, and the Separatists had underestimated the powers of the Republic in their struggle for these routes. Their defensive units were being slaughtered, which in an ironic sense, was not possible since the Separatists used droids for their army.

The 462nd's commanding officer went by the nick name Scar. Many believed that it was due to a number of scars laid across his face and upper torso. It was also for the fact that he seemed to be the best knife fighter his commanding officers had ever seen. There was much evidence to support their theories, especially one moment wherein during a time in the swamps, Scar had managed to kill a mercenary squadron of the Separatists using merely a chipped vibroblade and his bare hands.

Yes, Scar was a legendary unit on the battlefield, and was even optioned to become promoted to be a commander. For now, he was a sergeant who commanded the 462nd legion of clone troopers.

It was up to the Separatists to make him live up to his name.

And there he was, knifing down droids on the battle field. He took one of the battle droids, throttled his knife into the droid's small square body. He twisted and turned the knife. Sparks exploded from the droid's body. He then removed the knife and stabbed the knife upward. The knife dragged into the battle droid's tiny head and flew off into the scrap pile of droid parts behind.

Scar spun the knife around and picked out three more from his utility belt. He placed each knife in between his knuckles and began to knife the remaining droids until they were merely scrapping metal.

"Scar, behind you!" a warning clone's voice cried next to Scar. Scar easily recognized the warning clone's voice and saw that it was his closest "brother," Boom. They loved each other like true brothers and always stood out for each other on the battlefront.

A super battle droid was standing behind Scar and held not its blaster arm up, but rather its missile arm. It fired a missile at Scar, which gave him a few seconds to evade the missile. He bent his body to the side and instead, the missile flew past Scar and crashed into a detachment of battle droids. While his body was still bent, Scar pulled one of his knives in a quick second from his knuckles, brought his arm back, and tossed the knife at the super battle droid. The knife went into the droid's photoreceptor, which caused it to walk off the bridge into the misty ground far below.

By the second, the Separatist's numbers continued to decrease until it was all down to a single detachment. The detachment was easily destroyed by a stray grenade.

Scar and his commandos made sure for the moment that the whole bridge was secure, and then moved the main bunker entrance. Boom went in lead with the explosives followed by Scar. He had a uniquely-designed helmet, with two explosive scorch marks on the upper head near the head fin of the helmet, as everyone could see. Boom moved to the bunker entrance and put two explosives on the sides of the door.

First, Boom tried to operate on the door lock and tried to hack it open. After three unsuccessful tries, Boom shouted the warning, "Explosives on the door!" Scar and his commandos along with some other clones of the 462nd to the rear of the bridge, and waited for the door to explode.

Boom removed the detonator from his belt and clicked it.

BOOM!

The door exploded and was covered in a great amount of smoke and debris. Scar and his commandos clicked on their t-visors and changed their view. They could now see through the smoke that was in the entrance.

The commandos ran into the smoky entrance while Scar stood behind rallying the other troops of the legion. He saw Boom entering the bunker, to whom he said, "Good luck there, brother." Boom ran into the bunker his rifle up high.

Scar then heard a crackle in his helmet's comlink. It sounded very much like the sound of a clone trooper screaming in pain. He then heard the sound of Boom trying to shout over the overlaying screams and shouts. Scar could only make out: "Fall…General…Trap…Go!"

The screams were suddenly silenced and something rolled out of the bunker towards Scar's foot. It looked like a helmet. It was a clone trooper's helmet. And it wasn't just any clone's helmet. It was a helmet of unique design. It was a helmet with two explosive scorch marks on the upper head near the head fin.

"No…" Scar trailed off and looked up at the bunker entrance. The smoke was finally clearing away, but as it cleared, a tall shadowy figure began to materialize. The head was definitely not human, but somewhat was humanoid. Scar's eyes grew wide underneath his helmet.

Scar knew who this shadowy new figure was. He knew the terror this… machine had caused for the whole Republic. He was aware of this one's reputation… and name. The first part of his name was a military title given to the commander of an army—general. The second part of his name was something that obviously that meant sadness and fear. It meant grief.

General Grievous stood in the bunker entrance with his large medium-toned blue cape over his exoskeleton torso. He had yet to reveal the true form of grief, which lay hidden underneath this cape.

The Separatist general moved forward and seemed to be dragging something in his foot. He looked up at Scar and said in his cold mechanical, "I think this is yours." He kicked his foot into the air and propelled whatever was in his large foot to fly at Scar.

This propelled item was in fact a body. It landed before Scar and rolled to his feet face up. Scar was lost in fear. The corpse that landed before Scar's feet was that of Boom. His face was horribly cut and scarred. Blood flowed down different points of the face down into the floor.

Scar fell to his knees. "Boom…"

Scar was unaware however, that Grievous began for him while he mourned quietly over his dead clan "brother's" corpse. He only noticed Grievous when his large three-toed foot stomped into Boom's chest. Scar looked up at Grievous and saw his skeletal form and menacing yellow eyes.

Grievous needed no words to let Scar realize what was to happen next. Scar tapped into his comlink and said his last order and words. "Fall back." After that, it was over and Scar joined his brother in a quick second.

In no less than four minutes, Grievous had slaughtered every last unit of the 462nd legion of clones. Bodies of clones lay in piles, and Grievous stood quietly surveying his work. He had truly spread his grief into these clones and let them die.

He had scraped their lives away with his fingers and let them die horrible deaths. He let them die the deaths he had felt in his life. He had felt the deaths of his own brothers into these brothers.

Grief was here on Mygeeto.

But that was not how Grievous would put it. He preferred to say it as one of his victims put it.

_End, thy name is Grievous._


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Many years before the war began, Grievous was different. He was not a _machine_. He was, however, a warrior and a general of the army of his native species known as the Kaleesh. They waged a war against enemies called the Huks, and fought gallantly with Grievous at the front as their lead.

He led his brethren and his eldest son Katakas with his missing finger and scarred chest to war with the Huks and battled them like legends. Grievous was proud to stand side-by-side with his son on the battlefield. It was only together that they would receive immortality.

But it was during the war that the Huks received help from a force much stronger than both sides. This force was that of the great Galactic Republic. It was with their help that the Kaleesh were easily dropping in numbers during the war.

Grievous solely grew a grudge for both the Republic and the Huks and swore that they would die by his hand. It was there and then that the Separatists came into the picture. Although they had not yet truly revealed themselves to the public, they were already forming.

Grievous did not want their help, and it was because of that that he ended up writing his own death sentence. While on a shuttle, Grievous had not realized that the Separatists had placed a bomb underneath the shuttle's hull and fatally injured Grievous in the process.

It was the chairman of the InterGalactic Banking Clan—San Hill—who came to General Grievous with the offer of saving his life and saving his species. Many had considered it to be a very dubious offer, but Grievous accepted it.

The terms of the offer were: the Separatists would provide Grievous a new body and protect his fellow Kaleesh. In return, Grievous would become the living droid general of the new droid army, nothing more.

General Grievous' new body was suddenly put to work. The Separatists took his surviving internal organs and more importantly, his brain, and fused it together with a towering body, crystal circuitry, and grasping appendages… the list could go on and on.

Two months in the making, Grievous experienced irony through pain and suffering at the hands of his saviors. His right to be called an organic being had been taken away, just like his right to be with his species after his rebirth.

And when Grievous was first shown his new appearance, form, and voice, he was at first surprised at the result, and then, he became outraged. They promised him to have a new body. Instead, he got a machine's body. It was absolute pain.

However, this _was_ his choice. As mentioned earlier, he ended up writing his own death sentence. This is the origin of General Grievous.

Now we shall leave this monstrosity's origin and instead, we shall go to his reintroduction to the art of fighting. Unlike his new life's predecessor, Grievous had never truly explored the art of dueling.

Of course, he was the General of the Kaleesh army, but the way he fought was the blunt street fighter's way. He fought only with a staff before; he did not know the true usefulness of his staff.

It was when he met the mysterious aged Darth Tyranus that he experienced lesson one. He was humiliated in front of this Sith Lord as he tried to defeat him in a duel. Grievous struggled with his skill and even his new attributes to defeat the Sith, but later on learned that even a mere touch of a lightsaber could beat the armor of General Grievous.

So that the reader may get a better sense of this scenario, I shall elaborate on these events. Take note that these events take place before the prologue of this general memoir.

General Grievous entered the daunting room where he would first meet the legendary Darth Tyranus. The walls were all black, just as the floor was with a mix of marble. Darth Tyranus stood in the middle wearing his regular brown attire, with the gallant brown cape flying behind him. In his hand, he grasped the hilt of a weapon Grievous was unfamiliar to.

The weapon was of bright gleaming silver and was bent to look much like a curved Alderaanian blaster. At least that was Grievous' perception of this weapon.

"Darth Tyranus, I presume," Grievous said in his mechanical voice. It felt as if he was speaking into three microphones, which modified his voice to make him seem more like a machine.

"Welcome, general, to your first lesson in the art of battle," Tyranus greeted back as he raised his weapon before his face a pushed a silver button on the side. A bright white-red beam shot out of the weapon and lighted his face to show more distinct features. There was a continuous hum, which somewhat kept Grievous a little irritated. By now, Grievous could establish that Tyranus was aged at the sight of his short white beard and tiny wrinkles.

This stunned Grievous only a bit. The thought of an aged man teaching him to fight was flabbergasting! _Ha! When banthas fly!_ He thought deeply about Tyranus.

"Despite whatever your thoughts may be, general," Tyranus suddenly popped. He lowered his weapon and then slanted his arm at an eight o' clock position, "I am still your teacher." He paused for a moment. "Now, let me see your 'fierceness.' Show me your anger."

Grievous felt like grinning at his teacher's first command, but also felt it was impossible to smile after his face had been grafted to a mask, which became his new face.

He charged at Tyranus and kept his eyes focused on the old man. _You better have a death wish, old man_. But as he continued for Tyranus and was about to ram into him, Tyranus suddenly disappeared and reappeared in another spot. Grievous was unaware that the wall was right there, and instead of being able to ram into Tyranus, he instead rammed the wall.

As he returned to the condition of fighting, he turned his head and saw Tyranus standing in the same spot. _Impossible!_ Angered, Grievous charged again for Tyranus. This time, Tyranus not only disappeared, but he also managed to slash a small portion of Grievous' armor with his weapon.

Grievous this time did not ram into the wall as before, rather he crashed into it. He felt the sting of pain once again from the sting of Tyranus' weapon. "What sort of trickery is this?"

"This is no trick, general. It is only your first lesson." From his belt, Tyranus took another weapon out. It was similar to the one he used, but the design was very much different. Unlike Tyranus's, this weapon was straight, not curved. He tossed it at Grievous' pain-stricken body. "This is the weapon of a true warrior; a lightsaber."

Grievous got up and examined the lightsaber Tyranus tossed at him. He saw its unique design at the shiny buttons and knobs on it. He pointed the lightsaber away from his body and pressed the button near the top of the hilt. A bright white-blue blade blazed out and gave the continuous hum, which still irritated him.

Grievous gazed at the blade from top to bottom and then swung it around a few times with both of his mechanical hands on it. "Interesting weapon, Tyranus," he commented. "This weapon must be truly powerful if it allowed an old man such as you to evade my attacks."

"No, that was different." Tyranus answered in a way that made him seem very… distinct and cultured. "I evaded you with a certain attribute that is only possessed by very few."

"Do I have that power?"

"No, I do not sense the Force flowing within you," he answered. "But I do sense your anger, your hatred, and most especially… your fear."

"I do not fear anything," Grievous said in an intimidating voice.

"A man, creature, or machine without fear is a fool," Tyranus answered back in an even more intimidating voice. "The truth is that everyone is truly afraid of something. Some only have a fear of revealing it. Fear leads to anger, which you truly exhibit in fighting. Anger leads to hate, which I am truly sure you have. Hate leads to power, general, which I know you desire."

Grievous was silent. Inside, he was stupefied. He took a long moment's pause, to which Tyranus ended by asking: "What do you fear, general? What was it that caused you to agree to our terms and become the new droid general?"

Grievous remained silent.

"That, my friend, is lesson two."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Now we return to the scene after that in the prologue, where we return to the present-day Grievous entering the bunker. It was now years after his first lessons with Tyranus. He had now been professionally trained in the arts of the lightsaber and was now a master of this weapon. He had only one, which was the one that his master had given him.

Grievous entered the bunker and approached the communications console, where a call had been hailing for him for the past minute now. Grievous answered the transmission and a large blue picture of San Hill appeared. The picture flickered a little, but Chairman Hill's voice was perfectly clear.

"Ah, General Grievous," San Hill said in his strange aristocratic voice.

"Chairman Hill," Grievous recognized the former.

"I trust you disposed of the 462nd legion of clones?"

"Every last clone is dead, chairman."

"Very good," San Hill praised in a voice only a bit different from his former voice. This seemed better than his nose less-sounding voice. "By any chance, were you able to save any of the battle droids?"

"No, chairman," Grievous answered. "The clones fought me after they beat your army."

San Hill gave a sort of sigh, and then spoke again, "Well, we all do our best, now don't we?"

Grievous was silent.

"Anyway, let's move to business now," Hill resumed. "You have a new mission. It's probably the biggest one you're about to have. It might catch the eye of our benefactor and allow him to reveal himself."

"I'm listening," Grievous said.

"It concerns Kalee," Hill suddenly said.

Grievous was shocked. His eyes grew wider than before. Was it possible? A chance to return to Kalee presented right here, right now?

"I see you are obviously interested."

But no, Grievous was more than interested. He was dying to have this mission. He would do anything to return to Kalee. He would even agree to be executed on Kalee. Grievous wanted only to return home to see his family once more.

"But there will be a bit of tragedy for you, general," Hill then brought up.

What could he possibly mean? What sort of tragedy?

"It seems that in your absence from the planet, a group of Kaleesh decided to rebel against us and to return to the Republic. They destroyed a base northwest of your hometown and are requesting for a peace treaty to return to the Republic and have peace with the Huks."

Betrayal was what this mission was all about. It was betrayal that was what would bring Grievous back home. He couldn't wait get his hands on the traitors. He couldn't wait to ring their necks and slaughter the rest of the lot.

"Here's where the tragedy arrives, general," Hill finished. His picture then disappeared and was replaced by a picture dated not long ago. It was a picture of a group of Kaleesh surrounding a pile of droid parts. On top of the mound was a Kaleesh who looked much stronger than the others. It was only the look of this Kaleesh that disturbed Grievous. This traitor had a missing finger and scarred chest… just like his own son. No! It could not be! Grievous would agree to die on Kalee, but he would never fight his own son.

"I'm sorry, general," Hill began again. "It seems that in your absence, your sons and wives thought that we had killed you and they did not approve. So they began a rebellion."

"No…" Grievous trailed off. "Why, Katakas? I am alive and breathing."

"Your objectives," Hill paused as if he did not want to continue. But Grievous knew that a banker like Hill obviously had no respect for family and honor. "Your objectives are as follows: defeat the Republic armies; eliminate the rebel leader."

"No!" Grievous barked at Hill. "I will not slay my eldest son on the battlefield!"

"I'm sorry, general, but it's either that or your support systems are to be deactivated and the contract is broken."

Grievous looked puzzled for a moment. "I… I don't understand."

"The terms of our agreement was that we rebuild you a body and put the Kaleesh under our protection. In return, you agreed to be our droid general," Hill took another pause to let the general process the information. "Now, if you refuse a mission such as what you may do now, you are therefore abandoning your post as general and such actions will lead to the destruction of your contract. Your life support systems will be deactivated and we will send the entire Separatist fleet to bombard, decimate, and reduce the Kaleesh cities to rubble. It is your choice."

Truly, a tragedy this was. If he chose not to kill his own son, he would end up causing the extermination of the Kaleesh race and eventually his own life. If he chose to kill him, however, he would end up saving his own life and that of billions of Kaleesh. The only problem in the latter would be that he would have to kill his firstborn.

The choice of the death of his son or the death of many began to clear up a little as he considered that in both options, his son would die anyway. But if Grievous chose to let him die in execution, Grievous would not die a warrior's death as he swore to his ancestors.

Grievous gave his answer and closed the console. He turned and let his dark blue cape fly in the wind that entered the bunker. He made his way to the exit and out towards the viewing station to take a look at Mygeeto's scenery.

As he stood on the round viewing platform leveled with the bridge, he tried his best to reminisce his fond memories of fighting the Huks alongside Katakas. Such honor was loved by Grievous only.

He went back to the days when it was he and Katakas as father and son. He went back to the days when they built their homes together. He returned to the nights they fought alongside each other. He ventured back to those precious years of watching over his son and the pleasure of calling him just that.

And then, he went to something entirely different. He returned to his first lesson with Tyranus. He remembered the fears he had proclaimed to Tyranus, and his feelings about them.

The first fear that came into his head was the one that was always there ever since the beginning. "My greatest darkest fear is the death of my sons, especially my eldest… by my own hand." It was agreeable. Doing so would only make him look like a cold-blooded murderer.

"That is one of the most common fears of the galaxy," Tyranus had answered him. "It is usually the fear of those who stand for immortality and honor. Now, you must use that fear to your advantage. You must turn that fear into anger and then, bind together all the threats to your offspring in your fist. When you finally do, crush them with the utmost hatred that lies in the deepest chambers of your soul. It is only then that you will obtain… power."

Grievous returned to the present day. His greatest fear was being presented to him on a silver platter. His only choice was to devour and take action on this fear, or to just leave it sitting there until it rusted or decayed. It would only be sooner or later that Grievous would become paranoid about his fear and would later on take action on it.

After taking so many moments of thinking, Grievous looked up at the sky to see a Separatist craft hovering above the landing pad over the bunker. Grievous made his way to the pad and waited for the craft's ramp to lower.

He entered the craft and waited for the ship to leave Mygeeto's atmosphere and to jump into hyperspace.

Grievous' next destination: Kalee.

3


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Katakas, the eldest son of Grievous and the heir to his right as supreme warlord of the Kaleesh Army, sat quietly inside his dark meditative tent. A burned stick sat in the corner of the tent smoking away. It provided a very sparse light in the tent.

He sat quietly trying to meditate in the Force. Today was the day that he needed it most. He needed the Force today to use in battle against the Separatists. It was time for vengeance to be instituted with his hands.

Another Kaleesh who looked similar in form to Katakas entered the tent. He was actually shorter than Katakas was, but it didn't matter. "The armies have been assembled and they await your command, general," he said.

Katakas stood from his place and walked past his comrade out of the tent, where waiting for him was an army of thousands. They were consisted of Kaleesh warriors from all over the planet who was dedicated to avenge the call of their greatest warlord.

Katakas stretched out his arm and extended his hand forward. "My legions!" he yelled out to the army, "We are gathered today to commemorate and remember our greatest warlord and leader! We shall avenge his Kaleesh blood and spill those of his murderers!"

The army cried out and cheered for Katakas. It was true that he had the same love for war as hid own father did.

1


End file.
